Hairbrush

ABSTRACT

A hairbrush includes a handle, a bristle carrier holder, which is hinged to the handle and has two sliding grooves arranged in parallel at the top and two raised retaining portions protruded from the top wall and projecting into the sliding grooves and two protruding blocks with a respective sloping face respectively disposed inside the sliding grooves, a bristle carrier, which has a flexible pad holding a plurality of metal bristles and two rod-like flanges with a respective recessed retaining portion formed integral with the flexible pad at two sides by insertion molding for insertion into the sliding grooves to secure the bristle carrier to the bristle carrier holder base. The rod-like flanges are forced outwards by the sloping faces of the protruding blocks when inserted into the sliding grooves of the bristle carrier holder base, and therefore the recessed retaining portions of the rod-like flanges are forced into engagement with the raised retaining portions of the bristle carrier holder base.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to hairbrushes and more particularly, tosuch a hairbrush in which the bristle carrier is fastened to the body bymeans of a slip joint.

2. Description of the Related Art

A hairbrush is a daily implement carrying rows of wires or thin teethused in hair care for brushing, styling, and detangling human hair.

Following fast development of material science and manufacturingtechnology, there is a great change in hairbrush. Conventionally,natural materials such as wood and animal bones are used for makinghairbrushes. Nowadays, industrial materials such as polymers areintensively used for making hairbrushes. Motor-driven brushes arecommercially available nowadays. U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,930, entitled“Travel Massage Brush”, discloses an ultra-compact vibrating hairbrushthat comfortably fits an average woman's or man's hand in the hairbrushing or massage modes. There are 1 hairbrush-combined hairdryers andhair-dyeing purpose hairbrushes available in the market.

A regular hairbrush generally has parallel rows of bristles for brushinghuman hair. There are hairbrushes in which the bristles and the bristlecarrier are formed in integrity by means of injection molding, and thebody of the hairbrush is provided with coupling grooves for the mountingof the bristle carrier. The bristle carrier according to this design ismade out of a rigid plastic material for easy installation in thecoupling groove of the hairbrush body. However, because the rigidplastic material is not compressible, the scalp may feel uncomfortable.

There are hairbrushes in which the bristle carrier is made of a flexiblematerial, such as rubber. The flexible bristle carrier has through holesfor the mounting of bristles. According to this design, a rigid frame isused and fastened to the border of the flexible bristle carrier tosecure the flexible bristle carrier to the hairbrush body. Further,insertion connection technique may be employed to detachably secure thebristle carrier to the hairbrush body, allowing easy cleaning of thebristle carrier. The design of the travel massage brush of U.S. Pat. No.6,283,930 allows easy replacement of the battery. In a slip joint designof hairbrush, the flexible bristle carrier has two coupling flanges attwo opposite lateral sides for fastening to the respective couplinggrooves at the hairbrush body. However, because the bristle carrier isflexible, it is difficult to insert the coupling flanges of the bristlecarrier into the respective coupling grooves. The user usually wastes alot of time in installing the bristle carrier after each cleaning work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances inview. The invention uses insertion molding technology to have two rigidrod-like flanges be provided at two opposite lateral sides of theflexible pad of the bristle carrier so that the bristle carrier caneasily be fastened to the sliding grooves of the body of the hairbrush.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the hairbrushcomprises a body, and a bristle carrier. The body comprises a bristlecarrier holder base and a handle extending from one end of the bristlecarrier holder base. The bristle carrier holder base comprises twosliding grooves arranged in parallel at the top side, two raisedretaining portions protruded from the top side and respectivelyprojecting into the sliding grooves, and two protruding blocksrespectively disposed inside the sliding grooves. The protruding blockseach have a sloping face. The bristle carrier comprises a flexible padholding a plurality of metal bristles, two rod-like flanges extendingalong two opposite lateral sides of the flexible pad and formed integralwith the flexible pad by insertion molding and insertable into thesliding grooves of the bristle carrier holder base to secure the bristlecarrier to the bristle carrier holder base. The rod-like flanges eachhave a recessed retaining portion for engagement with the raisedretaining portions of the bristle carrier holder base. When the rod-likeflanges of the bristle carrier are inserted into the sliding grooves ofthe bristle carrier holder base, the rod-like flanges are respectivelyforced outwards by the sloping faces of the protruding blocks to forcethe recessed retaining portions into engagement with the raisedretaining portions, thereby securing the bristle carrier firmly to thebristle carrier holder base.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the rod-likeflanges each have a thin wing extending along its one side and embeddedin the flexible pad of the bristle carrier. The thin wing has aplurality of through holes filled up by the material of the flexiblepad.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a hingecoupled between the handle and the bristle carrier holder base forallowing the handle and the bristle carrier holder base to be turnedrelative each other and closed together.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the handlehas an accommodation open chamber in its top side for receiving thebristle carrier when the bristle carrier holder base and the handle areclosed together.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, thehairbrush further comprises at least one magnetic element fastened tothe bristle carrier holder base and the bristle carrier to provide amagnetic field for magnetize the metal bristles of the bristle carrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a hairbrush according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view in an enlarged scale of bristle carrierfor the hairbrush according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing the bristle carrier inserted intothe sliding grooves of the bristle carrier holder base and forced intoengagement with the raised retaining portions of the bristle carrierholder base according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing theextended status of the hairbrush.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing thefolded status of the hairbrush.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a hairbrush in accordance with the presentinvention is shown comprised of a body 1, and a bristle carrier 2.

The body 1 is comprised of a bristle carrier holder base 11 and a handle12. The handle 12 extends from one end of the bristle carrier holderbase 11 for the holding of the user's hand comfortably. The bristlecarrier holder base 11 has mounted therein a vibration source (notshown), for example, a motor-driven vibrating mechanism that is coupledto an on/off switch (not shown) and controllable to vibrate the bristlecarrier holder base 1, thereby providing a scalp massage. A batterychamber 13 is mounted inside the bristle carrier holder base 11 andcovered with a battery lid 131 to hold a battery cell 132 on the inside.The battery cell 132 is electrically connected to the aforesaidvibration source through the aforesaid on/off switch, and controllableby the on/off switch to provide the necessary working voltage to thevibration source. Because the aforesaid vibration source massageassembly is of the known art, no further detailed description in thisregard is necessary. Further, a hinge 14 is connected between thebristle carrier holder base 11 and the handle 12 so that the user canturn the bristle carrier holder base 11 relative to the handle 12. Thehandle 12 is a hollow member defining an accommodation open chamber 121on its one side, namely, the top side. The bristle carrier 2 is mountedon one side, namely, the top side of the bristle carrier holder base 11(see FIG. 4). When the bristle carrier holder base 11 is turned towardthe handle 12, the bristle carrier 2 and a part of the bristle carrierholder base 11 are received in the accommodation open chamber 121 (seeFIG. 5), i.e., the hairbrush can be folded up to reduce the length,convenient for carrying by the user.

By means of using the battery lid 131 to close/open the battery chamber13, the user can replace the battery cell 132 conveniently. Further, atleast one, for example, three magnetic elements 15 are arranged on thetop side of the bristle carrier holder base 11 and the battery lid 131(see FIG. 1). The magnetic field produced by the magnetic elementsdistributes over the whole bristle carrier 2 and transmitted through thebristles 22 at the bristle carrier 2 to the ball tips 221 of thebristles 22. When brushing, styling, or detangling the hair of a personwith the hairbrush, the magnetic elements 15 eliminate statisticelectricity produced from friction between the bristles 22 and the hair.Further, the effect of magnetic attraction between the magnetic pole ofthe magnetic field produced by the magnetic elements 15 and themicro-metal elements in blood stimulates the circulation of blood. Thisblood-circulation stimulation effect is more significant in the brainwhere neurofibres and micro-vessels are intensive.

For enabling the bristle carrier 2 to be conveniently and positivelysecured to the bristle carrier holder base 11, the bristle carrierholder base 11 provides two sliding grooves 16 arranged in parallelalong two opposite lateral sides of the top wall, two protrudingretaining portions 161 protruded from the top wall at two sides andrespectively projecting into the inner end of each of the sliding groove16, and two protruding blocks 162 respectively suspending in the slidinggrooves 16 at an inner side. The protruding blocks 162 each have asloping face 163.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bristle carrier 2 is made out ofpolymers, for example, rubber, comprising a flexible pad 21 and aplurality of bristles 22 fastened to the flexible pad 21 and arranged inparallel rows. The flexible pad 21 is a smoothly arched pad. The balltips 221 of the bristles 22 prevent damage to human scalp when brushingthe hair. The main feature of the bristle carrier 2 is the formation oftwo rod-like flanges 23 at two sides of the flexible pad 21.

The rod-like flanges 23 are made of a rigid material. Each rod-likeflange 23 has a thin wing 231 longitudinally extending along its oneside, and a plurality of through holes 232 cut through the thin wing231. The two rod-like flanges 23 are formed integral with the twoopposite lateral sides of the flexible pad 21 by means of insertionmolding. After insertion molding, the rubber material of the flexiblepad 21 covers the thin wings 231 and filled up the through holes 232.Therefore, the rod-like flanges 23 are fixedly connected to the flexiblepad 21. Further, the rod-like flanges 23 each have a recessed retainingportion 233 corresponding to the raised retaining portions 161 of thebristle carrier holder base 11.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, when fastening the bristle carrier 2 to thebristle carrier holder base 11, insert the rod-like flanges 23 of thebristle carrier 2 into the sliding grooves 16. When the rod-like flanges23 touch the sloping faces 163 of the protruding blocks 162, they areforced to curve outwards, thereby forcing the recessed retaining portion233 into engagement with the respective raised retaining portions 161.FIG. 4 shows the hairbrush assembled. Because the bristle carrier holderbase 11 and the handle 12 are coupled together by the hinge 14, the usercan turn the bristle holder base 11 toward the accommodation openchamber 121 of the handle 12 to fold up the hairbrush. FIG. 5 shows thehairbrush folded up.

As stated above, the invention has two rigid rod-like flanges connectedto two opposite lateral sides of a flexible pad to form a bristlecarrier by means of insertion molding. Further, because the flexible padis a smoothly arched pad, a gap is kept between the bottom surface ofthe flexible pad and the top surface of the bristle carrier holder base,imparting a room for compression of the bristle carrier as the bristlesare pressing on the scalp of a person. Because the rod-like flanges aremade out of a rigid material, they can easily be inserted into therespective sliding grooves of the bristle carrier holder base,eliminating the drawback of the prior art design in which the flexiblematerial property of the pad of the bristle carrier makes theinstallation of the bristle carrier difficult. Further, the inventionhas magnetic elements installed in the top side of the bristle carrierholder base beneath the bristle carrier to provide a magnetic field thatmagnetizes the metal bristles of the bristle carrier. The magnetizedmetal bristles can eliminate static electricity and stimulate thecirculation of blood. This transmission of magnetic force is notfeasible in conventional wooden or plastic hairbrushes. Further, the useof the hinge between the handle and the bristle carrier holder baseallows the user to fold up the hairbrush.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described indetail for purposes of illustration, various modifications andenhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

1. A hairbrush comprising: a body, said body comprising a bristlecarrier holder base and a handle extending from one end of said bristlecarrier holder base, said bristle carrier holder base comprising twosliding grooves arranged in parallel at a top side thereof, two raisedretaining portions protruded from the top side and respectivelyprojecting into said sliding grooves, and two protruding blocksrespectively disposed inside said sliding grooves, said protrudingblocks each having a sloping face; and a bristle carrier, said bristlecarrier comprising a flexible pad holding a plurality of metal bristles,two rod-like flanges extending along two opposite lateral sides of saidflexible pad and formed integral with said flexible pad by insertionmolding and insertable into said sliding grooves of said bristle carrierholder base to secure said bristle carrier to said bristle carrierholder base, said rod-like flanges each having a recessed retainingportion for engagement with said raised retaining portions of saidbristle carrier holder base; wherein when the rod-like flanges of saidbristle carrier are inserted into said sliding grooves of said bristlecarrier holder base, said rod-like flanges are respectively forcedoutwards by the sloping faces of said protruding blocks to force saidrecessed retaining portions into engagement with said raised retainingportions, thereby securing said bristle carrier firmly to said bristlecarrier holder base.
 2. The hairbrush as claimed in claim 1, whereinsaid rod-like flanges each have a thin wing extending along one sidethereof and embedded in said flexible pad of said bristle carrier, saidthin wing having a plurality of through holes filled up by the materialof said flexible pad.
 3. The hairbrush as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a hinge coupled between said handle and said bristle carrierholder base for allowing said handle and said bristle carrier holderbase to be turned relative each other and closed together.
 4. Thehairbrush as claimed in claim 3, wherein said handle has anaccommodation open chamber in a top side thereof for receiving saidbristle carrier when said bristle carrier holder base and said handleare closed together.
 5. The hairbrush as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising at least one magnetic element fastened to said bristlecarrier holder base and said bristle carrier to provide a magnetic fieldfor magnetize the metal bristles of said bristle carrier.
 6. Thehairbrush as claimed in claim 1, wherein said metal bristles each have aball tip.